MARY KRAMER: Candidates need better vetting

Last week, we saw a steady stream of bad-news items about Detroit councilman George Cushingberry Jr. Heck, the guy had barely gotten his president pro tem seat warm in City Hall.

It started with the now-famous traffic stop, but by week's end, reports included a temporary suspension of his law license for a past infraction, accusations by former clients of bad performance as an attorney and a personal bankruptcy filing.

Since most of the bad news actually occurred before the August 2013 primary, the question is: Where were the news media?

Hindsight is always 20/20, the saying goes. But the Cushingberry candidacy raises two additional issues.

First, this seems to be clear evidence of economic pressures on traditional news media with shrinking newsrooms. Checking court records, bankruptcy court, register of deeds, etc. are the kind of nuts-and-bolts reporting that used to be routine. Hard to juggle when also covering a big story like the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. Or even a big mayoral election.

In November, a Flint Journal editor apologized publicly for not reporting earlier that a newly elected council member in Flint had been convicted of murder and served 19 years in prison. The conviction was reported as soon as the paper learned of it — unfortunately not in time for the general election earlier that same week.

Second, many folks I've talked with before and after the 2013 elections complained that the overall field of council candidates in Detroit was weak. That reminded me of an idea espoused by former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer. He has urged companies with a stake in Detroit to look within their employee ranks to encourage credible and electable candidates to run.

A good example: DTE Energy's support for its now-retired executive, Joyce Hayes-Giles, to run for and serve the Detroit Board of Education a few years ago. We need more high-caliber talent in public office.

Publicly vetting candidates is a very time-consuming exercise. Maybe local news media — and I include Crain's Detroit Business in this group — need to create a collaborative enterprise — radio and TV news departments, print news media and digital media — to decide on templates for candidate scrutiny and divvy up the reporting and share results. I imagine that journalism programs at area universities could supply some talent, too, that would help give practical experience at navigating courts and other public sources.